Nikita Arora

Research Topic

Towards a History of the Body in British Colonial Punjab (1849-1947)

Supervisor: Professor Mark Harrison

For my doctoral project, I am interested in working towards a history of the body, gender, and sexuality in British Colonial Punjab, through history of medicine as medical ideas and history of science. Methodologically, I draw from theories of embodiment, phenomenology, and feminist and queer critical theory, along with archival historical research. Although I am studying British colonial Punjab, I am also interested in extra-colonial discourses of power that inform the body, such as caste, class, and gender. Most of my sources will be vernacular literature on the body - medical or otherwise. 

I have completed a master's in History of Science, Medicine, and Technology at Oxford (2020) and a master's in Women's Studies at Oxford (2019) with a high distinction. I was funded by the Rhodes Trust for both and I am currently funded by the Wellcome Trust Doctoral Studentship. 

My publications in English, academic and non-academic, can be found in History Workshop Journal,  Sikh Formations,  Aeon, Asian Journal of Women's Studies, The Tribune, The Indian Express,  and others. My work and activism on gender in India has been featured in The Guardian, BBC, and The Independent, among others. Most of my writings in Punjabi are published in the Punjabi Tribune. My first book, Dakhalandazi, a Punjabi essay collection on gender based violence in Punjab and North India, was published by Autumn Art in September 2022.